Send an email to your Seattle School Board members and Supt. Nyland and tell them it's time to negotiate a fair contract settlement with Seattle teachers and support professionals. More than 53,000 Seattle students are out of school and 5,000 SEA members are on strike because of the Seattle School Board's refusal to offer a fair contract agreement. Seattle's educators are standing up to ensure all of our students receive the support they need to be successful in school.

Here are major unresolved issues:

• Professional pay: We need to attract and keep caring, qualified educators in Seattle, which is one of the most expensive cities in the United States. We’ve gone six years with no state COLA and five years with no state increase in funding for educator health care.
• Fair teacher and staff evaluations: Teachers should be evaluated fairly and consistently, and the focus should be on providing the support all teachers need to be successful.
• Reasonable testing: Too much standardized testing is stealing time away from classroom learning
• ESA workload relief: Educational staff associates provide students with crucial services and support, but their current workloads mean many students aren’t getting the help they need.
• Office professional workload relief: Office professionals do crucial work and play many roles – and they should be compensated for the extra work they do.
• Student equity around discipline and the opportunity gap: We need to focus on equity issues at every school in Seattle, not just some.
• The administration’s proposal to make teachers work a longer day for 63 cents: It is unrealistic to expect teachers to work more hours without pay them fairly, and the district administration has been unable to explain how their proposal would help students.